Safety plan may sink Battle on the Bay

Organizers of the Battle on the Bay, an annual powerboat race on the Great South Bay, were scrambling Monday to revise and complete paperwork needed to secure a marine permit for the race, scheduled for Sunday at noon.

The Coast Guard, which announced Saturday it will not issue a permit for the race until organizers file a more detailed safety plan, will review the paperwork once it's submitted, said Cmdr. Amy Beach of the agency's Long Island Sound sector.

"We are aggressively revamping the plan to make it successful," said Louis Giancontieri, president of Great South Bay Racing, which runs the race. He planned to submit the new paperwork Monday, he said.

Beach said the original incident action plan had "question marks" that made the Coast Guard lose confidence in race organizers' ability to manage the event safely. She added that the plan also was rejected because local emergency agencies included in the safety plan expressed concern about "the roles and responsibilities that are being assigned to them."

"At this stage, the permit remains denied," Beach said Monday.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, the new paperwork had not been submitted, officials said.

In 2008, its second year, the race was marred when a high-speed catamaran flipped, killing two racers onboard.

Organizers of the Battle on the Bay have dealt with several hurdles planning this year's event.

Last month, the Town of Islip nixed plans to move activities surrounding the race from Patchogue to Sayville. The refusal meant spectators would not be allowed to watch the race from Sayville and organizers could not use the East Islip Marina, Giancontieri said. With no permits for crowds on shorelines, most spectators will have to watch the race from boats on Great South Bay, he said.

The land events, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, will be in two locations. On Friday, Main Street in downtown Sayville will be closed from 3-10 p.m. to display the boats, said Richard Trpicovsky, president of the Sayville Chamber of Commerce.

Brookhaven granted a permit to locate the "dry pit," where boats will be housed when not racing or on display, in a parking lot next to Raymour & Flanigan Furniture in Patchogue at Route 112 and Sunrise Highway, a town spokesman said.

Organizers also will have live music and fireworks in that parking lot Saturday night, said Patchogue Mayor Paul Pontieri, whose village has staged race-related activities since the event's inception in 2007. All events are free.

Giancontieri said regardless of the Coast Guard's decision about the permit, the land events surrounding the race will proceed as scheduled.

"The event will go on," he said. "All the race teams support me and they are all coming."